Elsevier launches case report-only surgery journal

Elsevier launched the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports (IJSCR), a new online journal dedicated exclusively to case reports.

The journal will serve as the companion to the International Journal of Surgery, and will be published eight times a year, in concert with its parent title. Submissions to the IJSC are peer-reviewed, although authors will have to pay almost $400 to publish their submissions, once accepted for publication.

Tom Reller, an Elsevier spokesperson, said the company has used the “author pays” model before, and IJSCR has already received approximately 50 submissions for review. A few IJSCR case reports have already been published in the company's Articles in Press category and included in the ScienceDirect online platform, and the first issue of the journal will publish “very shortly,” according to Reller. IJSCR will be distributed as an online-only title.

Drug and device advertising is not currently present in the journal, although Reller said the implementation of ads “is certainly a possibility going forward.” Reller said the number of case reports per issue has yet to be determined, but that Elsevier expects the number to increase steadily over time.

“While infrequently cited for research purposes, case reports are popular and represent some of the oldest levels of evidence,” said David Rosin, editor-in-chief, and Riaz Agha, managing director and executive editor, in a joint statement. Case reports include stories, anecdotes and patient-based learnings, and Elsevier hopes to raise their academic value by building a database of the reports, which “could be mined for interesting trends/patterns, disease modeling and for the purposes of surveillance, specially of rare diseases,” the statement said.